Steele confident defense won’t miss a beat

AUBURN | Three starters gone in the secondary. His top pass rusher headed to the NFL.

Kevin Steele has some key pieces to replace on his side of the ball but Auburn’s third-year defensive coordinator doesn’t seem at all concerned.

“If we can continue to keep the focus and work ethic to try and improve every day, we certainly have a very talented group, we have a very experienced group, we have a group of young guys that have matriculated to the standard rather quickly,” Steele said. “If we can add to that with some young guys, not that’s it’s necessary, but it helps. Then if we keep the mindset and the mental focus of relentless effort and physical and mental toughness and we are resilient in we never get that I’ve arrived syndrome and we’re playing good defense.

“Every team is different so we literally have to start over of the whole mindset, the teaching process and just rebuild it again. If we can do that, we have talent. And if we keep the mental focus sharp on those things, we have a chance to keep going.”

The Tigers return several defensive ends and Buck linebackers that have the potential step in for Jeff Holland, who declared for the 2018 NFL Draft after finishing third in the SEC with 10.0 sacks.

T.D. Moultry became Holland’s backup as a true freshman last fall and will come into 2018 with high expectations. Senior Paul James III and sophomores Nick Coe and Big Kat Bryant could also be a factor at the Buck position along with some talented newcomers.

Auburn returns its entire group of defensive tackles and defensive ends, including starters Dontavius Russell, Derrick Brown and Marlon Davidson. At linebacker, Auburn returns four of its top five in seniors Deshaun Davis, Darrell Williams and Montavious Atkinson, and junior Richard McBryde. Sophomores K.J. Britt and Chandler Wooten should be ready to make a bigger contribution.

The front seven should anchor Auburn's 2018 defense.

It’s the secondary that will need the biggest makeover with starting safeties Tray Matthews and Stephen Roberts graduating and starting cornerback Carlton Davis declaring early for the draft.

Steele will return five defensive backs with experience in juniors Javaris Davis, Jamel Dean, Jeremiah Dinson and Daniel Thomas, and sophomore Jordyn Peters. They project to fill five starting positions but building the depth behind them will be a priority during the offseason.

“I’m not, on the surface, because of what I know — externally I know you guys probably say, ‘Whoa, you guys lose Tray Matthews and Stephen Roberts, two starting safeties. What are we going to do at safety?’ We’ll be OK. We’ll be OK,” Steele said.

“When you get in the nickel and dime defenses and you’ve got corner-type guys. We’ve got guys but we’ve got to get them in the right position and that’s not done yet.”

Steele will be looking at a group of inexperienced and younger players to fill out the depth chart in the secondary including junior John Broussard, sophomores Traivon Leonard and Jayvaughn Myers, and redshirt freshman Malcolm Askew. True freshmen Christian Tutt, Quindarious Monday and Jamien Sherwood enrolled in January and could provide immediate help.

“We’ve got some things we can move around, shift around, infuse some of the young guys into it,” Steele said. “We may have to fast forward some development of some guys. We may have to simplify — I don’t know how you can be much more simpler than we are. We may have to adjust some things so younger guys can play so we can steal some snaps.”